Stuff of Legends
by FromTheCouncilOfTimeWizards
Summary: My collection of short stories - drabbles or slightly longer - of happenings in Camelot. Chapter 5: Arthur tries to have a little fun with Merlin. Emphasis on 'tries'.
1. New in Town

**AN: I'm not making any profit out of writing this, nor am I trying to. I just like using FF as a method of procrastination. **

**It's happened. I know there are tons of these, but here's mine. I gave in and started a drabble collection. I will be updating whenever I get inspired, so the updates might be pretty irregular, just so you know. **

Jack had to crane his neck.

The castle was huge. The ivory turrets loomed overhead, and the people in the windows of them were tiny, moving dolls. The walls enclosing the citadel were long, and even from just outside he could hear the bustle of what must be a huge crowd that could fit inside.

He couldn't help the slightly giddy grin that spread over his face. He'd been excited to come to Camelot ever since he got the first letter from his brother telling him how great it was. He was slightly nervous, though. Camelot was considerably bigger than the town he'd grown up in.

He vaguely realized that he was gawping as he walked through the gates, but he couldn't help it. The busy marketplace, set in front of the huge castle, was ringing with laughter and talk. The atmosphere was pleasant, and as Jack walked past a stand he caught a whiff of something delicious. He smiled. He would like living here.

The traveler walked up to the courtyard to get a better look at the castle. It was peaceful for a moment, when he heard a pair of voices arguing.

"We're lucky we caught anything. I swear, Merlin, you're clumsy on purpose. I know you don't like hunting, but sabotaging me will not make it go faster!"

The speaker was a blonde man who was striding across to the castle. Jack could tell immediately that he was either royal or noble. His clothes were expensive, he looked well-fed and well-groomed, and he held himself the way that most people with authority did: a swagger full of confidence. Not to mention the person who was yelling at, a tall, skinny, dark-haired man who was slightly behind him and carrying a load of hunting gear, appeared to be his servant.

Jack felt bad for the boy. His brother had told him how snobby some of the nobles could be. The poor servant, weighed down with the supplies and trying to keep up, surely could not retaliate, or he would be punished. That was the way, as he had been told. Servants took things lying down, or there would be consequences.

Therefore, he was surprised when the servant retorted immediately.

"I'm not doing it on purpose, I'm trying to carry all this stuff! You didn't even use half of it. If you learned to carry your own hunting gear, I wouldn't have to come, and you can murder innocent creatures in peace. But noooo, Prince Arthur, who can lift the heaviest battle instruments in Camelot, cannot carry his own things."

Jack froze, wide-eyed, waiting for the prince to drag his servant off to be flogged. Was the man an idiot?! He suppressed a sigh. Even if he was, he probably would not deserve what he got.

The prince looked outraged. "I am the prince, Merlin, it is not my job to carry all that. And it's not my fault you can't carry anything heavier than a basket of laundry."

The servant showed no sign of fear. Jack raised his eyebrows. Whoever this servant was, he was either brave or a complete fool.

A woman was pulling a cart full of her merchandise through the courtyard. Jack stopped her.

"Excuse me," he said, "who is that?" he pointed to the servant. He was strangely intriguing.

She smiled at him. "You new in town?"

Jack stared at her.

"Y-yeah," he said, "how did you know?"

She laughed slightly. "That is Merlin, personal servant to the prince of Camelot."

He watched them continue to argue. "Is he mad?!"

She grinned. "Some people think so. Everyone knows him, because he's the only one who can get away with insulting the prince."

The prince leaned in threateningly. "They really seem to hate each other."

She smiled wryly. "Look harder."

Confused, he did as she said.

The prince called him an idiot with a self-satisfied smile, but if one really payed attention, one would notice there was no real venom in it. Merlin replied with an exasperated jibe about the prince, but there was no hate in his face. The royal reeled off a list of chores for the servant to do, clearly enjoying the extra work put on him. But as they departed, Merlin called something, a joke, and the prince snorted. When the servant was out of range, the royal gave a small, fond smile.

Something was familiar about the scene...

And then Jack realized. Back in his town, there were two brothers who many people knew. The older one was fond of bossing the younger around, and they bickered constantly. To a casual viewer, they appeared to hate each other.

But to those who lived there, they were known to be some of the closest people they knew. For all their claims that the other was horrible, they would do anything for each other.

That's what Jack was seeing. The fact that the servant was willing to backtalk to the prince should have told him in the beginning. He was not witnessing two people who hated each other. He was witnessing two people who were practically brothers.

The girl was smiling.

"There you are. You've just made the first step in becoming a member of Camelot."

He watched the prince walk up to the castle doors and the servant cross the courtyard.

"Here, let me help you," Jack said, seeing Merlin struggling with his load.

"Thanks," the servant said gratefully, as Jack held some of the supplies so that Merlin could rearrange the things in his arms to be more manageable.

"I'm Jack."

"I'm Merlin," the servant smiled, and Jack could see that when he was not arguing, his pleasant nature could be seen in his radiant smile.

"I'm new," Jack said awkwardly.

"Nice to meet you, Jack. If you need anything, let me know. I know my way around pretty much everywhere, what with running all my errands for the prince."

Jack smiled. "Thanks."

"Well, I've got to run. See you around," Merlin said.

Jack watched him go and hoped he would. If Camelot had people like Merlin, he was glad he'd chosen the place to live in.


	2. I Told You So

**AN: Nope, still don't own.**

Merlin straightened himself as he prepared to walk through the doors into Arthur's chambers. He could only hope the prince would take him seriously, though the previous results weren't encouraging. The warlock supposed there was a chance Arthur would learn from his past mistakes, but given the prat's history he wasn't too optimistic.

Arthur was sitting at his desk when he entered, the afternoon light cascading down and staining everything in the window's reach a light gold. The prince ignored the sun's warmth and light, however, as he focused on the speech he was writing, brow furrowed on concentration.

"Arthur."

The royal looked up, annoyed at the break in his speech-writing.

"What is it, Merlin? Thought I told you to go polish my armor."

Merlin took a deep breath.

"Arthur, I believe Lord Baldwin is dangerous. He's plotting something, and it's not good."

Arthur raised his eyebrow. "Merlin, Lord Baldwin is a respected noble who has been on good terms with all the noblemen for a long time. Why would you say something like that?"

"I saw him down in the lower town, disguised. He was talking to someone, whispering. And then I came by him exiting the vaults, saying he'd gotten lost. I think he's conspiring to steal from the vaults," Merlin explained, wishing he could also mention that he'd felt the feeble dark magic he'd felt emanating from the jewel that hung from his neck, which Gaius said caused confusion and disorientation and was often used by thieves when trying to slip past guards. Merlin also had reason to believe that his accomplice was a sorcerer, and had bribed Baldwin into stealing a powerful magical object.

As he'd suspected, Arthur scoffed.

"You're basing your suspicions off of that? Come on, Merlin, even for you this is far fetched."

Merlin felt the pricks of annoyance he always felt when when Prince Prat refused to believe him.

"Arthur, I'm serious. Some of the stuff down there is dangerous!"

"I'm aware of that, Merlin," Arthur drawled, "which is why if there was any solid evidence that someone was trying to break in, I would be sure to add more protection."

"But-"

"Do you have any other reasons for suspecting Lord Baldwin?"

Merlin hesitated. "I have a feeling?" he said lamely, which was Arthur's cue to roll his eyes.

"Merlin, stop this nonsense and get back to work."

"But-"

Arthur gave him a look. "I'm serious, Merlin. Drop this. You cannot go around accusing noblemen of things like this, you can get into trouble. My father would see you heavily punished if he knew you'd said this. Now, go finish my armor."

It seemed it was once again up to Merlin to put a stop to things.

Two days later, Lord Baldwin had been caught trying to steal a strongly protected vial of magical potion that gave the drinker limitless energy. He was interrogated, and revealed that a sorcerer had "forced"(everyone mentally corrected it to "bribed") him to try to steal it and were planning to use it to attack Camelot and make an attempt at the prince's life as vengeance to Uther for the execution of the sorcerer's son.

During his explanation, he almost said something about the shadow of a person he'd seen at one point down at the vaults, but silently dismissed it as unimportant. After all, he couldn't know that Merlin had been the one to wake the guards.

The nobleman was thrown in the dungeons. The news spread throughout the castle.

No one had gotten hurt, and no damage had been done. And Merlin had insisted, but he just wouldn't listen. Therefore, he felt perfectly justified in guiltlessly saying "I told you so" as a way of morning greeting to Arthur. Even though the first words out of the prince's mouth when he'd entered had been "If you even think about saying 'I told you so...'"

Merlin did it anyway, and was slightly surprised, but actually quite pleased, when Arthur acknowledged, with a slight jerk of his head and lack of retaliation, that he actually deserved that one. After all, Merlin had a habit of being right, and the prince had a habit of ignoring that fact.

So he settled with a simple "Merlin?"

"Hmm?"

"Shut up and bring me my food."


	3. Drinking Problem

**AN: Last time I checked, Merlin was not mine. **

**I'm back! Hopefully the updates from now on will be more frequent, but I was camping for the last few days and just got back, so. **

**Enjoy!**

Arthur stood at his window, watching Gwaine and Merlin walking through the courtyard, talking and laughing. The two were so alike - both lighthearted, fiercely loyal, sometimes idiots, and had a certain disregard for rank and authority.

And they both seemed to have a drinking problem.

Arthur frowned slightly. He'd been angry with Merlin at first when he'd started skipping his duties to go to the tavern, but now, after the umpteenth time it happened, Arthur was starting to get slightly worried.

He knew there was no chance of curing Gwaine's bad habit. That ship had sailed long ago. But Arthur did not want to see Merlin sink into the pit of alcohol addiction. Gwaine, Arthur wasn't too worried about. But he was older than Merlin and was a trained knight of Camelot. Arthur had seen the kind of brawls that could get started by drunks. Merlin could barely hold a sword, much less defend himself if a drunken rage prompted a fight in the tavern.

Overall, it just wasn't a good idea.

So when Merlin came into his chambers a few minutes later, he made the servant sit so he could give him a lecture.

The raven-haired man raised an eyebrow as the king sat across from him, looking serious.

"Merlin, this has gone on long enough," the blonde said. "It's time you stopped drinking so much."

He saw his servant realize what he was talking about, and, to his extreme irritation, Merlin rolled his eyes and grinned, like he thought this was a joke.

The king scowled. "I'm serious, Merlin. This needs to stop."

"Alright, fine," the servant replied, still grinning slightly, indicating he wasn't taking this seriously. "I won't go to the tavern anymore. Happy?"

Alright, fine. If he wasn't going to take this seriously, Arthur would give him a reason to.

"Alright, I'm going to hold you to that. If I hear of you going to the tavern again while you're supposed to be on duty, I'm cutting your salary for the month in half. Clearly you have enough that you can afford the basic necessities as well as the costs of buying drinks."

He stared at his servant, daring him to protest. Thankfully, Merlin seemed to get the message.

"Alright, fine. No more tavern."

0o0

Gaius barely looked up as Merlin entered his chambers.

"Arthur's just talked to me," his ward informed him, coming over to sit on the bench next to the physician's work table. "He said no more going to the tavern. So next time he asks, you really will have to come up with a better excuse. For real this time."

0o0

It was hardly a week later that Merlin missed a good portion of the morning due to the fact that he had been captured by the imposter of a visiting noble who was really a sorcerer looking for revenge on Arthur. Thankfully, Merlin was able to escape his bonds, rescue the real noble, and get rid of the sorcerer.

Unfortunately for him, that meant when he didn't show up for work in the morning, Arthur stormed down to the physician's chambers to ask Gaius where his servant was.

Gaius, remembering what Merlin had said, offered a weak "He's collecting herbs for me, sire."

Arthur sighed in defeat. "He's in the tavern, isn't he?"

"No!" protested Gaius, but Arthur was clearly not dissuaded.

"I give up," he grumbled as he trudged back to his chambers.


	4. Excuses

**AN: Still don't own.**

**Sorry for the long gap, there's just this little thing called school that started recently. Unlike most people, however, this does not necessarily mean there will be long periods in between updates, because writing is my way of procrastinating.**

There was the clatter of a door being thrown open, which dragged Merlin into consciousness. He registered quick footsteps, and he felt a jolt of panic. He'd overslept! Gaius sometimes had to leave early for medical emergencies, he must have forgotten to wake the servant up. Groaning, he anticipated Arthur's reaction when he made it to his room.

If what he had felt before was a jolt, however, what he felt next was a lightning strike of panic by comparison. For he realized he had fallen asleep with his face buried in his magic book and Arthur was milliseconds away from bursting through the door.

Before he had time to move, the king banged the door open. "Oh, I'm _sorry_,_ Merl_in, did I _wake_ you?" Sarcasm dripped from his tone.

The warlock scrambled to get out of bed, trying to shove the book under his pillow, but he wasn't quick enough. Arthur spotted it.

No doubt trying to vent his annoyance with his servant by irritating the man, he swiped the thick book from Merlin's hands. The warlock froze, panic coursing through him. Why had he been such an idiot?!

"Merlin...this looks like magic."

Arthur's tone was confused. Confused, but not accusing. Perhaps there was a chance he would swallow an explanation.

"Umm...yeah, it is. After the last time we almost got captured by Morgana, I told Gaius I thought it would be a good idea to get a better understanding of her magic - you know, so we know what she might try - and he gave me that book. I've been looking through it, but it's hard to read."

The book was, in fact, written mostly in the language of the Old Religion. Arthur scoffed. "Hard to read? More like _impossible_. This all looks like gibberish."

He tossed the book at his servant, who caught it clumsily. "I agree it's good to know your enemy, _Mer_lin, but don't think you can use that as an excuse to get out of your job. Training's in ten minutes. Be there."

And with that, he left Merlin's room and closed the door on an extremely relieved warlock.

Sometimes, Merlin was annoyed by Arthur's obliviousness. Now was not one of those times.


	5. Poisons and Antidotes

**AN: Still don't own this awesomeness. **

**Whelp. Late update, I know. Thanks for your patience, guys. **

**As you may have noticed, these take place at whatever point in the series, in any season. This one happens to be around seasons 2-3 **

"Here, sire, this should help with your father's sickness."

Arthur eyed the small vial and its murky contents with suspicion. "You're sure it's safe? I thought you said you had to put some kind of poison in that."

Gaius patiently explained. "Yes, but it should be nullified by the other ingredients. I assure you, sire, it's perfectly safe for your father to take. If he takes this immediately, he should recover within a few days."

Arthur relented. However leery he was of this mysterious concoction, he trusted Gaius, and knew the physician would never risk harming the king.

Still, why not have some fun first?

"Merlin!"

His servant looked up from the table where he had been writing a speech for Arthur. "Yes sire?"

The prince held out the bottle. "You try it first."

Merlin's eyebrow mimicked that of his mentor's. "What?"

"You heard me. We have to be sure it's safe for the king, who better to test it?"

He could practically hear Gaius's stern gaze, but he ignored it, savoring the indignant expression on his servant's face.

Merlin was annoyed at the break in his writing. He wanted to get this speech done so he could have time to practice a particularly difficult spell. He hid a smirk.

As long as he was getting interrupted, why not have a little fun?

"Fine," he snapped, pretending to be irritated. "You'd better hope it's safe, or you'll have to write this speech yourself."

He took the bottle and made a point of sniffing it and making a face. He sent a fake uneasy look at Gaius.

"You're sure this is safe?"

The physician merely gave him a look, and he hastily said "Right, fine. If it is poison, though, I'll blame Arthur."

Said prince just rolled his eyes as the servant to a small swig of the potion.

He made a face, but thrust it back at his master. "'S fine," he said.

Arthur turned towards the door, but paused when he heard a soft cough. He turned slowly. Merlin had a look of discomfort on his face and was rubbing at his neck. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he fell onto the bench, legs wobbly, scrabbling at his throat.

In a panic, the prince tossed the offending beverage onto the table carelessly and hurriedly bent down next to his servant, who continued to cough, but they were becoming shorter and weaker.

"Gaius!" Arthur yelled in panic.

In response, the physician merely glared at his ward and imitated the prince. "_Mer_lin."

Merlin's choking gave way to a somewhat sheepish grin. He sat up straight on the bench, much to the shock of the prince.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," he said.

"You-" Arthur was apparently beyond words. His eyes flashed furiously, and his servant quickly backed away.

"It's fine, really," Merlin said, handing the bottle back to the prince.

The prince looked murderous, but instead of looking scared, a sly smile slid onto the warlock's face.

"Why so angry, Arthur? You weren't _worried_, were you?"

"Of course not," the prince snapped immediately. "I'm just annoyed that you made me take so long getting the potion to my father!"

"Says the person who took the time to make me test it first."

Arthur conveniently chose to ignore that comment before he stormed out of the physician's chambers.

He hadn't been worried. Really, he hadn't.

**Yay! Another chapter done. And for those of you following****_ If Only_****, I do plan on an update soon.**


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